NWADG Basketball

2017

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34 2017 Northwest Arkansas Basketball Sunday, November 5, 2017 she was capable of playing and contrib- uting immediately, but her timidness stepped in the way. She admitted it was a lack of confi- dence because she didn't think she was good enough to play varsity basketball. She also didn't want to step on the older players' toes, no matter how much Mann persuaded her to give things a chance. "One of the first things I noticed about Sierra was I thought she could be a really good player," Mann said. "We tried really hard to get her on the court, and I thought she could have started for us. She just didn't want to play over some of those older players. "One of our biggest games that year was when we beat Siloam Springs here. Sierra had about 8 or 10 points, and right there you could see what she could do from a basketball standpoint. But she was still really reserved and in her shell." Everything started to change during the offseason as Bailey prepared for her junior year. Mann began working with his returning players on skill develop- ment and one-on-one drills when Bai- ley asked him to stay and do some extra work with her on her skills. The bond between player and coach began to strengthen to the point Bai- ley and Mann were staying after prac- tice three to four times per week and working on her game. It led to Bailey's successful season last year, where she played everywhere on the court and av- eraged 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while earning all-conference and all-state honors. Bailey v Continued from Page 33 File Photo Alma's Sierra Bailey (left) earned all-state and all-conference honors last season and has become the leader and the player that coach Codey Mann expected from her two years ago, when she was a shy, withdrawn sophomore. "One of the first things I noticed about Sierra was I thought she could be a really good player. We tried really hard to get her on the court, and I thought she could have started for us. She just didn't want to play over some of those older players." — Codey Mann, Alma girls basketball coach v Continued on next page Northwest Arkansas' Newspaper

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